One quarter of a year

Wow.  It’s been over three months since I posted on this blog.  Time flies when you’re up to your eyeballs in things to do.  A quick recap: My five-year-old started kindergarten; we moved my two-year old to new daycare – much closer to home, but more expensive; and my husband and I still struggle to keep the family, house and finances in order.

So, funny enough, nothing’s really changed (except for my baby going to big kids’ school and riding the bus!).

Unfortunately, we needed a little change.  We’re still floundering financially, the house remains a mess, and stress hovers around the cardiac-arrest levels.  Did I mention that my husband is a mortgage banker, that much of my law practice involves real estate transactions, and that we have a house with non-paying renters in it?  (We’ve had to resort to eviction on that last item.)  Just in case no form of media enters your home and no one you know uses a bank or other financial institution, there happens to be a “mortgage mess”/”credit crisis”/Wall Street meltdown going on.  This stroke of luck has a major impact in our home, and is the despicable topic du jour.

Regardless of the state of the economy, we need to get it together on the home front.  Since our day-to-day choices waver between frugal and head-in-the-sand, we could use a little structure.  I stumbled upon a blog today that helped me choose our first step: to attempt a “No-Spend Month.”  We’ve toyed with the idea before, but never executed it with any accountability.  I think now is a great time to make the effort in earnest.  Wednesday begins a new calendar month and money is tight, so the timing is perfect.  Besides, as I’ve mentioned in past posts, we leak money around here.  I’d love to see what the results will be once we plug up the holes.

I’m working out the details (how much to budget, strategy, convincing my husband to go along) and will report before launching this project.  Wish me luck!